Apple gets Women Have Health Tracking Needs in iOS 9

When Apple ships iOS 9 this fall, HealthKit is finally going to address a glaring omission that's been there since the feature was introduced in iOS 8: menstruation. HealthKit currently tracks your daily step count, weight, sleep patterns, and more, but didn't address what Apple described as reproductive health during Monday's Worldwide Developer Conference keynote presentation—until now.

iOS 9 HealthKit adds reproductive health tracking

Apple senior vice president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi mentioned reproductive health in passing as he rattled off new iOS 9 features. On the screen behind him iOS 9's Health app showed menstruation logging, confirming that women are getting a fair shake when the successor to iOS 8 ships.

Reproductive health is a pretty broad term, so it's possible Apple is going to offer more, such as ovulation tracking. There also isn't any word yet on whether or not Apple has lumped in any male-specific tracking, although some things—like sperm count—require lab tests and may not easily lend themselves to HealthKit tracking.

HealthKit is adding more personal tracking for all genders, so the update won't focus strictly on menstruation and other reproductive-related data points. The iOS 9 update will also log hydration levels, UV exposure, time spent sitting, and more.

iOS 9 is available as a beta for developers now in July will be a public beta, too. It will ship this fall as a free update for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.